Gestapo Headquarters
Düsseldorf, Germany
Day 8

Major Hochstetter and several of his soldiers were gathered in a situation room at Gestapo Headquarters, a map of Germany and its remaining western occupied territories spread out on a table. The time was a little after eight in the morning, and all of the troops except Hochstetter were fresh men. Yet out of all them, Hochstetter seemed to have the most energy. There was a short open discussion on the possible direction the escapees could have taken and during this Hochstetter paced around the room.

"They must be heading south," one Gestapo agent said. He pointed to Grevenbroich on the map. "They could follow the West Wall, possibly to find a weak place and enter into France at Alsace-Lorraine, or they could go directly to Switzerland."

"Or," Hochstetter said, "they could pivot and head north to the sea."

"Back through Düsseldorf?"

"Nein...probably these roads through the less populated areas." Hochstetter circled to the front of the table and pointed on the map, tracing a route westward around the populated areas of Düsseldorf and it's surrounding towns and swinging north, a route nearly identical to the one Fritz and Emery were using. "Every one of us in this room knows there are only two directions the American and the delinquent youths could be heading. Which is why I propose concentrating the search in both directions. South, along the West Wall down to Alsace-Lorraine and to the Swiss border, the other north, to the port towns and along the coast.

"I want to coordinate with the regional commanders for the Gestapo and the SS in the search areas and use road blocks, checkpoints, and for them to question townspeople in the various towns where the Underground presence is strong. There is no doubt the American is being assisted. I also want to coordinate with the Army, as they too have checkpoints and road blocks that the American might try to pass through." Hochstetter paused and picked up a folder that was on the edge of the table. He pulled out two photographs, both of Glenn Miller, one civilian, one military and put them atop the map. "We have determined that Herr Miller has abandoned his uniform and is more than likely in civilian attire. It is also possible that he is disguised in other ways somehow, be it a wig, moustache, beard, what have you. I am having duplicates of both of these photos made up and I want them distributed to every Gestapo, SS and Army soldier in the search areas."

Hochstetter paused as the two photos were passed around the table. "Herr Miller does not speak much German, therefore he has to be traveling with someone from the Underground and it will be the person from the Underground that is doing all of the talking. I want every checkpoint guard, Gestapo, SS or Army to be on the look out for any groups trying to pass through that consist of several youths, in civilian attire, perhaps being passed as Hitler Youth recruits, delinquents, captured Underground members or as escapees from work camps, and one or more adults, who may be posing as Gestapo, Army or as Hitler Youth elders. I want the checkpoint guards to thoroughly check all identification papers and to thoroughly question any and all adults." Hochstetter snorted. "Herr Miller's lack of understanding of the German tongue will be spotted immediately.

"Remember also, this man has escaped from the custody of the Gestapo. He also is responsible for the humiliating events that took place at the Düsseldorf Radio Station yesterday, ruining the Propaganda Ministry's broadcast to the youth of Germany. As such, the American has incurred the wrath of our Fuehrer, who was listening at the time and has been made aware of what took place."

"Then your order still stands?" another Gestapo soldier asked.

Hochstetter nodded. "It does. Make sure that is passed on to the regional Gestapo commanders and Army division commanders." Hochstetter looked at the faces that surrounded the table and spoke evenly. "The American will not get away with what he has done..."


Munster, Germany

After three and half hours of driving, and passing through four loosely guarded checkpoints, Fritz pulled the sedan off to the side of the road to wait for Emery. They were just south of the town of Munster and nearly at the half way mark of the trip. The somewhat laize-faire interest of the checkpoint guards they had met up with thus far indicated at least one of two things; that word of Major Miller's escape had not spread yet, or any word of the escape was spreading slowly. Certainly news and orders issued would take longest to reach those soldiers who manned the checkpoints and outposts that were out in the sticks. This was why Fritz stuck to the back roads as much as he could, traveling on any main roadways only when there was no back road that sufficed.

For his part, Major Miller had kept an eye on the horizon and spoke to the boys in back, in an effort to keep their thoughts off the fact that they were all on the run from the Gestapo. The boys asked Miller what life was like back in America, what he did when he was their age and so forth. What was uncanny was that the countryside they had driven through thus far, with the corn stalks dead in the fields, the occasional farmstead with animals roaming in pastures and the dirt roads, all reminded Major Miller of the Middle America he'd grown up in, between Iowa and Colorado. Somewhere back there was a fifteen-year-old kid, trombone in hand, going off by himself for hours blowing on that horn, in between school and chores.

Miller chuckled to himself, thinking back as he stood outside of the car, smoking a cigarette. Sometimes it seemed like so long ago, other times it seemed like it was just yesterday.

Miller's thoughts returned to the present when Emery arrived, and he too reported that he had passed through checkpoints without any problem. Although both Fritz and Emery were grateful for the good fortune thus far, they knew better than to take anything for granted. After a very quick conference and a check of the map, the two sedans were back on the road again. They would meet again not far from the small town Bersenbruck.

Or so they hoped.


Stalag 13

Colonel Hogan and his men got their second look at the sun that day at the noontime roll call. It would be short lived though. Once Schultz finished the count and reported to the Kommandant that all were present and accounted for the prisoners were then dismissed. There was no speech, no words of wisdom from Klink. Hogan was disappointed. After being cooped up in the barracks all morning, Klink's rambling would have given them all a few minutes to enjoy the outside, despite the cold November air. But the sun was bright and there was something rejuvenating about crisp air and sunshine upon the cheeks.

But they would get no more of it. Schultz shooed them back inside and the barracks door was closed. Hogan let out a sigh and turned to LeBeau who stood at the woodstove, a pot of water just starting to boil.

"What's for lunch, Louie?"

"Soup, Colonel. But instead of just bullion I've sent Carter over to the kitchen to collect some beef and vegetables."

Hogan nodded. "Sounds good. It's a good day for soup."

"Oui, the German winter is coming..." LeBeau rubbed his hands together in emphasis.

Again, Hogan thought. And the war was still going on. And another Thanksgiving and another Christmas would probably be spent at Stalag 13. Hogan tried not to think about that and instead looked at his watch. He figured Major Miller to be half way through his trip by now.

"Game of twenty-one, guv'nor?" Newkirk asked, noting Hogan's restlessness. He held the cards up in invitation. "To pass the time..."

Before Hogan could answer, the bunk that concealed the entrance to the tunnel suddenly clattered open. This got everyone's attention, as there wasn't supposed to be anyone down there to begin with. Kinch, being closest to the bunk, looked down to see what was going on. Staring back up at him was Maurice Dubois.

"Colonel Hogan," the French airman said.

Hogan was already beside Kinch. "Dubois, what are you doing down there?"

"Colonel, I must speak with you. Urgently."

"Watch the door fellas," Hogan said. He stepped onto the ladder and climbed down into the tunnel. When he stepped off the last rung, the ladder swept back up and the bunk closed.

Hogan turned to Dubois. "What's going on?"

"Colonel, the Underground in Düsseldorf have gone into radio silence. The Gestapo are heavily patrolling the area and are asking questions about your bandleader and the youths..." Maurice reached into his coat and pulled out two photographs. "They are passing these around as well." He handed them to Hogan. "One of Brandeis Fritz's sentries got these and he drove to Hammelburg to let us know, to tell you."

Hogan looked at the photos and nodded. "I figured they would pass pictures of him around. But why in Düsseldorf? I thought those two boys put the Gestapo on the trail towards Grevenbroich."

"They did and they did well. The Gestapo found their own truck burned to the ground, just as they were supposed to. But Hochstetter.....he's not concentrating his search to the south only. Gestapo activity has picked up both south, and north of Düsseldorf."

"How far north?"

"We don't know for sure, but it looks like the SS is part of the search too. I would not be surprised if Hochstetter has spread his net out all the way to the coast."

Hogan paled. "The SS??"

Dubois nodded.

"And we have no way to warn them..."

"Non. When Fritz is in route, he can not be reached. And if he should try to contact any of his troop in Düsseldorf right now, he will receive no response."

Hogan looked at his watch. He then turned and walked to one of the walls of the tunnel where a pull down map of Germany was available. He studied it a moment and Dubois came up beside the Colonel to look too.

"They could be anywhere, mon Colonel."

"I know. But maybe we can decoy the Gestapo and the SS away from the north. Give the hound dogs a different scent to follow for awhile, giving Fritz a clearer passage to Wilhelmshaven."

Dubois nodded. "We could report false sightings and set up a trail heading south."

"That should work. We better move quickly, as we don't know how far north Hochstetter's net has been cast."